a fellow poster razorback and i have been messaging back and forth, he believes it is a borleyi and i agree, but more confirmation would make me more confident in the answer what do you guys think? my LFS had it listed as an assorted peacock but borleyi's are haps?

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Technically....peacocks are haps too. Aulonocara is a genus of haplochromine. Your LFS is 100% dead wrong claiming that fish is a peacock. Looks as though it is just starting to show its male characteristics such as the fins becoming more pointed, sides turning more orange, etc....It will continue to turn orange, fins will start to turn some white on its tips and the rest will be a pretty blue. They get rather large though and by the time it reaches maturity it will have outgrown your 40g and started to turn off really aggressive towards even your more aggressive fish.

Technically....peacocks are haps too. Aulonocara is a genus of haplochromine

are Mbuna also a genus of haplochromine

I believe that mbuna are haplochromines. I think haplochromines are then broken down into two sub groups....mbuna and utaka. Correct me if I am wrong.

I remember reading, I think, that aulonocara may have been put into a new group all its own from other haplochromis species or something to that effect. I am not a biologist so some of the reclassification and where they were put gets a bit confusing.

I found this on google books....it is a very long study done by a couple scientists named "The impact of species changes in African lakes". Here is a link...

when people are talking about fish theres 3 groups.. haps, peacocks and mbuna.. dont overcomplicate it lol

utaka are open water dwelling plankton eating haps.. there are haps that are no utaka

i would not characterize peacocks as haps.. they are peacocks

and yea thats a male copadichromis borleyi kandango.. well this species is notoriously hormoned.. I've seen a tank full of them with only a few males starting to get the red on the breast and then come back a month later and all of them had it.. but it does look male as long as it wasnt hormoned

ALL Malawi cichlids are Haplochromines. Except for the few Tilapia. Same with Lake Victoria cichlids. Lake Tanganayikan has a mix but Tropheus and Petrochromis are the best know Haplochromines.

The Mbuna is a pretty obvious group of specialized rock dwellers who have specially evolved mouths for eating in that area. Their color is less metallic.

The Aulonocara and Lethrinops are specialized sand dwellers, or around sand and rocks. They all tend to have just a vertical juvenile pattern, and a similar head. They are distinct enough from the "Haps" to be given their own big group.

The rest is a mix of fish that used to be just called "Haps" before they created a bunch of new genuses. These fish usually have a horizontal stripe as juveniles, except it may be broken so it looks like 3 spots. Some don't.

Stores are just using the name "Peacock" as a vague rather meaningless term for fish that supposed to be colorful. The hormoned fish they sell are often called "Peacocks". They don't know what they are and they don't care.

Question, can it be a pure Copadichromis borleyi (Kadango) with such clear barring? I know Copadichromis borleyi (Kadango) can have barring but is it not usualy a lot less clear than that in pure guys?

Is it mostly Copadichromis borleyi (Kadango) maybe with some Aulonocara in there too?

well since this pic he has started to color up a lot, hes gaining a lot of orange on his body and fins, and his face is gaining some blue mostly on his gills right now, his strips have almost disapeared but theyre still noticeable from some angles